"You just smashed my recorder against the wall!"
He turned his head down to speak into his recorder. "What on earth are you talking about, Miss Reid? You're certainly welcome to record this, if you'd like, but I've never seen your recorder."
"You just stood up, reached across, grabbed my recorder from the table in front of me, and threw it against the wall. That loud noise was the sound of my recorder hitting the wall. You used obscene language. Then you dumped the contents of my purse harshly out onto the table."
Moran's head tilted slightly. He stared at her with narrowed eyes, wondering about what she just said. Then he continued, "We've prepared evidence here that details your interference in a homicide investigation. To start with, there's the matter of your crude attempt to entrap and discredit a fine officer such as Sergeant Huress. Nevertheless, I'm willing to let that go. The more serious violation is that you're interfering with the police and providing misleading and possibly illegal information to the newspaper."
"Oh, you mean my meddling, pestering and aggravating? My work hasn't even started."
He rested one hand on the stack of papers. "These papers will be part of the official record. Reluctantly, I find that as a legal officer of the State of Florida, it's my duty to present this evidence to the judge and bring charges against you."
"I hate to put you to all that bother."
He raised his voice, "I'm sorry to say you're in a great deal of trouble. I'm afraid the penalties are quite severe."
"You're kidding, right?" She knew negotiating with this jerk would be impossible as long as he was playing his bully game. "That stack of papers there is a phony prop. Wouldn't it be more effective if we worked together on this rather than playing silly power games?"
"You won't think they're so silly, when you're standing looking out between bars."
"You're right, I won't. But it ain't gonna happen."
He hesitated. "It might be possible for me to overlook some of these charges. You'd have to retract a few things, that is, correct the record."
"What is it you want me to do?"
He grabbed up one of the top folders, reached across the table and shook it in her face. In a loud voice, "I want you to butt out and cease running around conducting your own damn investigation and giving information to the newspaper."
She smiled. "No, seriously, what do you want me to do?"
That was enough, more than enough. He jumped up and quickly stepped around the table to where she sat. She started to stand up, but he put his hand firmly on her shoulder and pushed her back down. "Just sit right there. You don't seem to realize your ass is in the hot seat. Now you listen to me. You're going back to that newspaper and tell them you made up the whole bunch of bullshit."